Joycon Drift

[JSS]

Be careful about sending special edition joycons in for repairs! Nintendo has been sending people back replacements that don't match the colors. You probably won't get back ACNH joycons...

I'm not sure if I'm having a drift issue or not, but I notice sometimes when I enter my house, my camera automatically starts rotating. If I hit the right analog stick though it stops, so it's not a persistent issue. I think maybe I just need to clean it.

Lol are they serious?! Can't they get in trouble for that? I'm not sending in any joycons until they redesign the joysticks. It's pointless. The cleansing alcohol method worked the other day for me on the second try. It's just really hard to get under the rubber thing. I'll eventually try to get my hands on the wd40 variant someone mentioned here. Looked around in stores but only found the normal blue one.

Yesterday I compared my joycons closely under a lamp (only 1 has had the drifting so far) and I noticed that on the drift joycon the thin rubber membrane under the stick is still there and intact, but no longer attached to the upper part of the stick. Sort of like a clean round cut. It's still attached in my other joycon. So my guess is it tore at one point and now offers less protection.

I've used these joycons since March and actually remember noticing this difference before this drift issue. I'm very gentle with my things, I hate button mashing, joystick wiggling, etc. My question now is how cheap is the material if it tears so easily after a few months of use?

 

[R. Planet]

For a company that once prided itself on long lasting, sturdy products, Nintendo has really let itself down. It's hurt its own reputation and as a gamer that goes back as far as me, it's just sad.

The og GameBoy was so damn tough. Nintendo Power magazine once ran a contest looking for pics of damaged units that still functioned. One kid sent in a pic of one that had been lit up in a housefire. The thing was charred black. The buttons melted. But when you flicked the power switch the thing turned ON and the screen still lit up and booted the game!

Flash forward 25 years and I broke my 2DS when I sneezed on it or something. This drift issue with the Switch is totally not okay. I LOVE Nintendo. But this is the kind of **** that makes me reconsider buying from them in the future.

I mean I know I will but you better believe that I'll be looking and the control stick specs before it's released.

 

[AccfSally]

My Switch lite is kinda doing it now.

 

[Bird_9]

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post, it seemed the most appropriate
I haven't played Animal Crossing in weeks and weeks solely because of Joycon drift, it makes my game un-playable. I can't do anything because it's going all over the place, it's seriously so bad
I was wonder if anyone had any simple fixes or solutions? I am not taking my Switch apart, and I can't afford new Joycons either. It makes me very sad, especially with the fair coming up

Man
Im going tontell u what fixed my drift issue

WD 40 lubricant
Its been 6 minths since the first application and its workin

 

[Cosmic_Crossfade]

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post, it seemed the most appropriate
I haven't played Animal Crossing in weeks and weeks solely because of Joycon drift, it makes my game un-playable. I can't do anything because it's going all over the place, it's seriously so bad
I was wonder if anyone had any simple fixes or solutions? I am not taking my Switch apart, and I can't afford new Joycons either. It makes me very sad, especially with the fair coming up

Nintendo is getting cheaper and cheaper with their product making and it's really starting to show in not just quality but in performance as well. It angers me that they know this too and keep on being cheap with their "plastic toy" controllers that probably cost less than a dollar to make but charge us $70 for new ones. The switch may be the last system I buy from them if they don't decide to step up their game and put forward some money to make top quality products that a multi billion dollar company should. At least Xbox and Playstation have quality with their controllers.

 

[Variety.Gamer 4438]

I just wanted to add that one of my friends who is experienced with technical repair went inside of my joy cons that at the time clearly had the drifting problem. He later told me he could not find anything wrong with them. It is very shocking, at least to me, that it can look virtually perfect and yet still have issues. Even though I suppose that is how it can be for fragile equipment made up of tiny parts, it is still a little saddening that even going inside of the controller(s) may not present you with an obvious solution.

 

[michealsmells]

My joycon drift started right after ACNH came out. Luckily we had a spare gamecube switch controller in the house but its still a pain, since it's awkward to use with other games (specifically Dark Souls) and you can't click the joysticks to do certain functions (which I feel is a REALLY bad design choice to have those buttons not respond)

 

[AssassinVicz]

My left joy con had a weird drift, not where it kept her moving but it randomly got stuck moving in the middle circle and slowly started drifting back.

It was small at first, being it occurred every few pushes, But not every time.

However playing other games that wasn’t ac, (Mario Karts, Overcooked and various others.) ended up making the thumbstick worse. I did try blowing air around the edge to see if it would solve the issue, but nope. It was toast.

I ended up sending it back to Nintendo after 3 months of use, due to the warranty and they’d fix it for free. I just had to box it, print the label and post it. They gave me updates throughout and it was sent back 10 days after. It was the same colour I sent back with the issue fixed but, it was a completely different controller. (Literally looked new)

I would highly advise, even if it isn’t in warranty to send it back to Nintendo to fix. Unless there’s someone you can trust to fix it. It might take some time to get sent back but it’s worth it and saves you buying another pair. Imo.

 

[Em623]

I’m honestly kind of disgusted that this is still an issue. More than two years in and they still haven’t gotten a handle on their well known malfunctioning controller? When the joy-cons are mandatory for countless games in their library? This is borderline exploitation, I had two pairs glitch out on me very early on and since then I’ve been using a third-party pro controller. Yes, I almost always play undocked, but I’d still rather have a reliable, if unwieldy controller than buying two more overpriced plastic glow sticks every two months.

 

[R. Planet]

I mean I don't think drift will ever happen again. Nintendo have had to spend god knows how much money and man hours fixing these controllers for free. The problem is so well known it's become a joke. They'll probably even have to talk about it the next time they debut a new console and controller because it's the FIRST question we'll all have when we see it.

Now the overall quality issue, that may keep being a thing.

 

[pawpatrolbab]

For anyone else in the UK who can't send their console in for repairs like me, ASDA sells knock-off Joycons for £35 and they work really well!

 

[beehumcrossing]

I updated the JoyCons, and it worked pretty well. Still not perfect, but better

 

[Mr_Persona]

My joycon drift started right after ACNH came out. Luckily we had a spare gamecube switch controller in the house but its still a pain, since it's awkward to use with other games (specifically Dark Souls) and you can't click the joysticks to do certain functions (which I feel is a REALLY bad design choice to have those buttons not respond)

Oooh for dark souls that must be annoying. Bet it's weird to use for certain attacks.

 

[Coach]

I just got my first glimpse of joycon drifting just now, my camera in AC was moving around without any input. Thankfully I do have a USB and pro controller if necessary, since I really cant afford the price they ask for new ones.

 

[trashpedia]

Mine has been drifting for a long while now and even putting alcohol seems to only work temporarily. It's super annoying to deal with and i think I might have to buy a replacement kit soon.

 

[Sanaki]

Mine doesn’t drift when I sit still but whenever I try to run right it will slow me to a walk or I can’t move that way at all. I’m probably going to try the WD40.

 

[Corrie]

My left neon purple joycon has drift. So annoying. It drifts to the right and down at the same time. The joycon hasn't had that much use either.

Edit: and I've noticed that playing Let's Go Eevee, my character will not run down. She'll run in any other direction when tilted but if I tilt it down, she walks. It's strange. If I tilt is down but slightly to the left or right, she'll twitch into an awkward half run half walk stutter. So I basically have to run sideways to the left and right, hitting the down in a specific angle. Wtf

 

[Sheep Villager]

What makes joycon drift extra fun in smaller countries is that since it's almost always the left one, they are out of stock for individual left joycons to sell. Basically if I wanted to replace mine I would have no choice but to get two new joycons when all I would need is just a loose left one. If I pay to have it shipped abroad it'll end up costing me the same as just buying two joycons to begin with so that's out of the question.

I ended up swapping to a pro controller immediately when my left joycon started drifting back in March. So far the pro controller has held up just fine since they seem to drift more rarely. I have decided that if my pro controller starts drifting I'm going to go third party because Nintendo is not getting any more of my money for defective products.​